HOME PAGE

CONTENTS OF 48-PAGE BOOKLET:
  •  The Big Picture
  •  Problem Solving and Decision Making
  •  The Decision Making Process
  •  System of Decision Making and Problem Solving
  •  Intuitive Decision Making
  •  Short Formula for Decision Making
  •  Full Model and Formula
  •  Specific Individual “Sciences”


    • STAGES AS APPLIED TO DECISION MAKING:
    1. Curious Observation
    2. Is There a Problem?
    3. Goals and Planning
    4. Search, Explore and Gather the Evidence
    5. Generate Creative & Logical Alternative Solutions
    6. Evaluate the Evidence
    7. Make the Educated Guess (Hypothesis)
    8. Challenge the Hypothesis
    9. Reach a Conclusion
    10. Suspend Judgment
    11. Take Action

    SUPPORTING INGREDIENTS:
    12. Creative, Non-Logical, Logical & Technical Methods
    13. Procedural Principles & Theories
    14. Attributes & Thinking Skills

  •  Group or Team Decision Making
  •  Management Decision Making Technique
  •  Managerial Decision Making
  •  Behavior Decision Making Theory
  •  Accounting for Risks Involved
  •  Decision Making under Uncertainty, Forecasting and Predicting
  •  Miscellaneous Strategies
  •  Opportunities to Use My Non-copyrighted Material
  •  Bibliography
  •  Your Guide and Worksheet
    		•


    Stage 1
    Curious Observation as Applied to Decision Making

    Creative Decision Making and Problem Solving

    The complete method of creative problem solving and decision making depends on people using curious observation to find problems that need to be solved and decisions that need to be made. Curiosity is a personal attribute that, if continually exercised, will improve your creativity and keep you ahead of the competition and successful in all phases of life.

    Curiosity, when carried through all the stages of the complete method of creative decision making, results in better judgment, more jobs, increased wages, cheaper and more available food, longer life and better health, improved housing, improved management decision making, and a more pleasant and prosperous life for people in general.

    Albert Einstein said, "I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious" and "The formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution." A solution may be a result of mere skill, while the discovery of a problem or decision requires an inquisitive, curious mind.

    Our Five Senses Are Decision Making Tools that Are Used to Find Problems to Be Solved and Decisions that Need to Be Made

    We use our five senses - hearing, sight, smell, feel, and taste - in curious observation to stimulate and aid our mental activities in finding decisions that need to be made. Tools, microscopes, and instruments such as computers are means by which we extend our senses.

    Prevention - Find Decisions that Need to Be Made

    Only by constantly being curious, alert, and constructively discontent will you recognize a situation in which a decision is needed - now or in the future - in order to prevent big losses, extra trouble, crises, or to achieve your objectives. Remember the old saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Organizations not alert to needed decisions can make colossal blunders. Use your imagination to see the big picture of what you are working on.

    Decision Making Activities

    To Arouse Your Curiosity:

    • Read newspapers, magazines, professional journals, and books.
    • Check various internet sites on subjects you are interested in.
    • Have discussions with family, friends, and associates on the process of decision making.
    • Observe what goes on around you all day long. Pay special attention to changes that are constantly occurring.
    • Attend exhibits, conventions, and professional meetings.

    To Help Train Yourself to Be Curious and Understand What You See:

    • Don't accept anything as a "fact" or "true." Develop a healthy and practical skepticism.
    • Ask why and what if.

    Use Your Curiosity and Decision Making Skills to:

    • Reflect on motives, feelings, needs, and reactions of people involved with or assigned to you.
    • Think reflectively. Inquire. Turn thoughts over and over in your mind.
    • Visualize and imagine.
    • Let your curiosity lead you to be dissatisfied. Improvements come because of dissatisfaction.
    • Be progressive.
    • Motivate yourself to make the world a better place to live.
    • Think about thinking. Constantly improve your thinking skills and judgment.

    The Six Universal Questions - Even When Presented with a Decision to Be Made, Begin at Stage 1 by Being Curious About:

      Who was involved in the matter leading up to the decision that is needed?
      What were events leading up to the decision that is needed?
      When did the events begin to develop?
      Where did this occur?
      Why did the matter reach the decision stage? Any urgency?
      How did my involvement in the decision-problem develop?

    Decision Making Skills - Remember as You Proceed:

    • Develop curiosity as one of your personal attributes and use it throughout  decision making.
    • Be curious about what other personal attributes you need to be a good decision maker. See Supporting Ingredient 14.
    • Learn to anticipate troubles, errors, and changes needed.
    • Knowing and practicing use of the SM-14 model will give you self-confidence.
    • Decision making is a process and must move along the stages presented here.

    A Major Decision Making Strategy

    Before proceeding through the 11 Stages of Decision Making, remember the supporting ingredients;

    Ingredient 12 - Creative, Non-logical, Logical, and Technical Methods
    Ingredient 13 - Procedural Principles and Theories
    Ingredient 14 - Attributes and Thinking Skills

    You must use these at all the stages of the process of decision making. You might want to glance at them now to remind yourself that you will need them as you proceed through the next stages of SM-14.

    Next . . . Stage 2. After finding or being given a problem that requires a decision, you should present it in the form of a question at Stage 2. If any ideas on what the decision should be occur to you, consider them tentative, no matter how good they may seem to you (but keep a list of them).